Kevin Frisch: Clintons get a case of the Willeys

If, as appears increasingly likely, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama scores primary victories Tuesday in Texas and Ohio, there is likely to be one particularly unhappy woman.

Kevin Frisch

If, as appears increasingly likely, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama scores primary victories Tuesday in Texas and Ohio, there is likely to be one particularly unhappy woman.

And no, we’re not referring to his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The damsel most likely to be depressed is one Kathleen Willey.

Willey is the former White House aide who claimed then-President Bill Clinton groped her. Well, she was one of them, anyway. And she’s got a book out: “Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton.”

You probably can’t tell from the title, but it turns out to be a not-very-flattering account of the former first couple, who are accused of everything from having Willey’s cats whacked to having a hand in the death of her husband. The book is available at Amazon.com, where it recently cracked the top 10,000 (No. 9,820 in sales as of last week) and at a partisan bookstore near you. (If there are no partisan bookstores near you, try a Wal-Mart.)

The Column Central Election ’08 Command Center Information Collection and Assessment Bureau, otherwise known as my computer, has received a number of e-mails from M. Sliwa Public Relations promoting Willey’s book since it was published last November. And by “promoting Willey’s book,” I mean “slamming the Clintons.”

Take this excerpt from a supportive review of “Target,” mailed Nov. 14, 2007:
“Many of us who crossed the Clintons — whether it was because of what we wrote or whether it was because we didn’t yield to unwanted sexual attacks — feared for our lives as a result of winding up on their ‘enemies list.’”

The writer, Joseph Farar, doesn’t indicate what types of sexual attack he refused to yield to, but he lists the consequences of doing so: Everything from flat tires and dead pets to break-ins and “untimely deaths.”

The following day’s M. Sliwa e-mail charged Sen. Clinton with “dodging” these charges (as if the senator would issue a statement denying she had ever been involved in a murder). The release also claimed newsman Wolf Blitzer had “reportedly been told to keep the velvet gloves on in the next debate.” (Wolf is from CNN, you see, and wouldn’t ask tough, Fox News-type questions, like “Sen. Clinton, if elected president, which will be your higher priority — flattening tires or drowning kittens?”)

In a Nov. 20 e-mail, we learned that “Kathleen Willey Takes Aim at Clintons.” (Profits are evidently beside the point; the book, we are told, is intended to warn America against another Clinton administration, much as Ann Coulter’s books are intended to ... I don’t know — warn America against reading Ann Coulter.)

Dec. 5: “New shocking video on Hillary Just Released.” (Hillary doesn’t shock the way, say, Paris Hilton does. Turns out it was a tape of a musical salute to President Clinton.)

Jan. 29, 2008: “Kathleen Willey to Obama: Watch Your Step.” A truly concerned American might contact a presidential candidate to offer well-meaning warnings about an opponent. A profiteer would issue a press release about it.

Feb. 20: “Willey Warns Dems as Clinton Sharpens Attacks on Obama.” By this point, it seems even Willey is losing interest in this whole campaign. She was much more feisty when the book was not yet released and she intimated the Clintons tried to swipe it. In fact, here’s part of the book’s “Product Description” on Amazon:

“As evidence that the Clintons haven’t changed, the terror and harassment continue.

"Over 2007’s Labor Day weekend, Kathleen’s home was burglarized. Instead of taking jewelry or computers, the thief took the manuscript for 'Target,' with its explosive revelations that could damage Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.”

I’ll say this for Willey’s publishers: They can turn around a book in a hurry. The manuscript is kicking around her house on Labor Day and the finished product is released Nov. 6? That’s service.

Or, more accurately, disservice.

Odd allegations and flimsy substantiation might make for interesting reading among Clinton haters, but one would think even they would be tiring of such fare by now.

Well, as I say, if Clinton loses the nomination, at least we may finally see the end of an industry dedicated to smearing her and her husband. Where will such partisan hearts turn next?